Soft governance instruments in the EU: coordination and legitimacy beyond the shadow og hierarchy?

Abstract

Following recent theoretical and conceptual developments this paper examines the extent to which the gradual introduction and unfolding of new soft instruments in the European Union is in fact changing the EUs system of governance and the nature of the European integration process. The paper focuses on issues of effective coordination based on voluntary action and on issues of democratic legitimacy in post-parlamentarian political processes. To do that, the paper presents and discusses the theoretical aspects based on rational and sociological institutionalism, and proposes a set of assumptions about the different types of instruments. These assumptions will be tested empirically in the future.